The Wonderful Adventures of Nils 1732 Studios

Swedish · The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

Vildfågelsliv

Wild Bird Life

342 sentences · 21 notes

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  1. 1

    Just in those days there occurred in Skåne an event which became widely talked about and even got into the newspapers, but which many have believed to be a fabrication, because they have not been able to explain it.

    Justjustjust · adverbmodifies dagarna
    iini · prepositionpreposition marking dagarna
    dethoseen · determiner, pluraldeterminer of dagarna

    Surfaces 'de/De' are ambiguous with the plural pronoun 'de' = 'they'. Example ch01-p9-s2 ('De voro ett fattigt husmansfolk' = 'They were poor cottar folk') is genuinely the pronoun 'they', not the definite article 'the' — the single fixed gloss 'the' is wrong for that occurrence. Definite plural article ('de') used before an adjective plus noun, e.g. de stora träskorna, 'the big clogs.'

    dagarnadaysdag · noun, nominative, common gender, pluraloblique complement of tilldrog
    tilldrogoccurredtilldrog · verb, past, indicative, activemain verb of the sentence
    sigitselfsig · pronoun, accusativedirect object of tilldrog
    iini · prepositionpreposition marking Skåne
    SkåneSkåneSkåne · proper noun, nominativeoblique complement of tilldrog
    enaen · determiner, common gender, singulardeterminer of händelse
    händelseeventhändelse · noun, nominative, common gender, singulardirect object of tilldrog
    somwhichsom · pronounsubject of blev

    Three of this key's four examples ('som om far skulle...', 'för just som han stod...', 'som de är borta') are actually the conjunctive 'as'/'while' use, not the relative pronoun 'that/which' shown by 'länstolen, som blev köpt...'. The glosser's original senses list (that/who/which) omitted the dominant 'as' reading entirely.

    blevbecamebli · verb, past, indicative, activerelative clause on händelse
    mycketwidelymycket · adverbmodifies omtalad
    omtaladmuch talked-aboutomtalad · adjective, nominative, common gender, singularcomplement of blev
    ochandoch · conjunctionlinks the coordination
    tilleventill · prepositioncoordinated with omtalad
    ochandoch · conjunctionpart of the phrase till
    medwithmed · prepositionpart of the phrase till
    komcamekomma · verb, past, indicative, activecoordinated with blev
    iintoi · prepositionpreposition marking tidningarna
    tidningarnanewspaperstidning · noun, nominative, common gender, pluraloblique complement of kom
    menbutmen · conjunctionlinks the coordination
    somwhichsom · pronounsubject of ha

    Three of this key's four examples ('som om far skulle...', 'för just som han stod...', 'som de är borta') are actually the conjunctive 'as'/'while' use, not the relative pronoun 'that/which' shown by 'länstolen, som blev köpt...'. The glosser's original senses list (that/who/which) omitted the dominant 'as' reading entirely.

    mångamanymånga · pronoun, pluralpart of the phrase som
    hahaveha · auxiliary verb, active, infinitiveadverbial clause on dikt
    trottbelievedtrott · adverbindirect object of ha
    varabevara · auxiliary verb, active, infinitivecopula linking to dikt
    enaen · determiner, common gender, singulardeterminer of dikt
    diktfabricationdikt · noun, nominative, common gender, singularcoordinated with händelse
    därförbecausedärför · adverbintroduces the clause of varit
    attthatatt · subordinating conjunctionpart of the phrase därför
    detheyde · pronoun, nominative, pluralsubject of varit
    intenotinte · particlemodifies varit
    hahaveha · auxiliary verb, active, infinitiveauxiliary of varit
    varitbeenvara · verb, active, supineadverbial clause on händelse
    iablei · prepositiondepends on varit
    ståndablestånd · noun, nominative, neuter, singularpart of the phrase i
    atttoatt · particleintroduces the clause of förklara

    infinitive marker before a verb.

    förklaraexplainförklara · verb, active, infinitiveadverbial clause on varit
    denitden · pronoun, common gender, singulardirect object of förklara
  2. 2

    The truth of the matter was that a female squirrel had been caught in a hazel thicket that grew on the shore of Lake Vomb, and carried to a farm that was nearby.

  3. All the people on the farm, both young and old, grew fond of the pretty little creature with the big tail, the clever, curious eyes, and the small, neat feet.

  4. They intended to spend the whole summer delighting in watching her nimble movements, her deft way of shelling nuts, and her merry play.

  5. They at once made ready for her an old squirrel cage, which consisted of a little green-painted house and a wire wheel.

  6. The little house, which had both a door and a window, the female squirrel was to use as a dining room and bedchamber; so they laid down a bed of leaves in it and put in a bowl of milk and a few nuts.

  7. The wire wheel, on the other hand, she was to have as a playroom, where she could run and climb and swing round.

  8. 3

    The people thought they had arranged things very nicely for the female squirrel, and were surprised that she did not seem to be thriving.

  9. Instead she sat sullen and cross in a corner of her chamber, and every now and then let out a sharp cry of complaint.

  10. She did not touch the food, and she did not turn the wheel a single time.

  11. "It's probably because she's afraid," said the people on the farm.

  12. "Tomorrow, once she feels at home, she'll both eat and play."

  13. 4

    Meanwhile it happened that the women on the farm were busy getting ready for a feast, and on the very day the female squirrel had been caught, they were occupied with a great baking.

  14. And either they had had bad luck with the dough not wanting to rise, or else they were rather slow about it, for they had to work late after it had grown dark.

  15. 5

    There naturally reigned much haste and bustle in the kitchen, and there was surely no one who took the time to wonder how the female squirrel was faring.

  16. But there was an old grandmother in the house who was too advanced in years to take part in the baking.

  17. That she understood herself, but all the same she did not like standing outside it all.

  18. She felt sad, and for that reason she did not go and lie down, but sat down by the window in the sitting room and looked out.

  19. In the kitchen they had, for the sake of the warmth, propped the door open, and through it streamed a clear gleam of light out onto the yard.

  20. It was an enclosed farmyard, and it was lit up so well that the old woman could see the cracks and holes in the plaster on the wall opposite.

  21. She also saw the squirrel cage, which hung right where the light fell most brightly, and she noticed how the female squirrel ran all night long from her chamber out into the wheel and from the wheel back into her chamber, without resting a single moment.

  22. She thought there was a strange unrest over the animal, but she supposed, of course, that it was the sharp gleam of light that was keeping it awake.

  23. 6

    Between the cowshed and the stable there was, on that farm, a broad, roofed gateway passage, and it lay in such a way that it too was lit up.

  24. And when the night had worn on a while, old grandmother saw a little fellow, no taller than a hand's breadth, come slipping in slowly and cautiously from the gateway into the yard, though he walked in clogs and leather breeches like any other working man.

  25. Old grandmother understood at once that it was the tomte, and she was not the least bit afraid.

  26. She had always heard that he kept himself there on the place, although she had never seen him before, and a tomte, after all, brought good luck with him wherever he showed himself.

  27. 7

    As soon as the tomte had come into the paved yard, he ran straight to the squirrel cage, and since it hung so high that he could not reach up to it, he went to the tool shed for a pole, leaned it against the cage, and then swung himself up in the same way a sailor climbs up a rope.

  28. When he had reached the cage, he rattled at the door of the little green house, as though he wanted to open it, but old grandmother sat calmly, for she knew the children had put a padlock on the door, for fear that the boys from the neighboring farms might try to steal the squirrel away.

  29. The old woman saw that when the tomte could not get the door open, the female squirrel came out into the wire wheel.

  30. There she and the tomte had a long conference with one another.

  31. And when the tomte had heard all that the captive animal had to tell him, he slid down the pole to the ground and ran out through the farm gate.

  32. 8

    The old woman did not think she would see anything more of the tomte that night, but she lingered by the window all the same.

  33. When a while had passed, he came back.

  34. He was in such a hurry that she thought his feet scarcely touched the ground, and he hastened straight to the squirrel cage.

  35. The old woman saw him clearly with her far-sighted eyes, and she even saw that he was carrying something in his hands, but what it was she could not make out.

  36. What he carried in his left hand he laid down on the paving stones, but what he held in his right he took with him up to the cage.

  37. Here he kicked with his clog at the little window, so that the pane broke, and pushed what he held in his hand in to the female squirrel.

  38. Then he slid down again, took what he had laid on the ground, and climbed up to the cage with that too.

  39. And directly afterward he rushed off once more with such haste that the old woman could scarcely follow him with her eyes.

  40. 9

    But now it was old grandmother who no longer sat still in the cottage, but went ever so quietly out onto the yard and placed herself in the shadow of the pump to wait for the tomte.

  41. And there was one more who had also noticed him and grown curious.

  42. It was the house cat.

  43. He came creeping slowly and stopped by the wall just a couple of steps outside the brightest strip of light.

  44. 10

    They stood and waited both long and patiently in the cold March night, and the old woman began to think of going back in, when she heard a clatter against the paving stones and saw the little tomte fellow come trudging along once more.

  45. As before he carried a burden in both hands, and what he was carrying peeped and struggled.

  46. And now a light dawned on old grandmother.

  47. She understood that the tomte had run off to the nut grove and fetched the female squirrel's young, and that he was carrying them to her so that they should not starve to death.

  48. 11

    Old grandmother stood still so as not to disturb him, and it did not look, either, as though the tomte had noticed her.

  49. He was just about to lay one of the young ones down on the ground so as to be able to swing himself up to the cage with the other, when he caught sight of the house cat's green eyes glittering close beside him.

  50. He stood there quite at a loss, with a young one in each hand.

  51. 12

    He turned around, looked about him in every direction, and now became aware of old grandmother.

  52. Then he did not hesitate for long, but went up and held out one of the young squirrels to her.

  53. 13

    And old grandmother did not want to show herself unworthy of the trust, but bent down and took the young squirrel and stood holding it, until the tomte had swung himself up to the cage with the other one and came and fetched the one he had entrusted to her.

  54. 14

    The next morning, when the people on the farm gathered for breakfast, it was impossible for the old woman to refrain from telling what she had seen the night before.

  55. And of course everyone laughed at her and said she had only been dreaming.

  56. There were no baby squirrels to be had this early in the year.

  57. 15

    But she was sure of her facts and asked them to look in the squirrel cage, and that they did.

  58. And there, sure enough, lay on the leaf bed in the chamber four small, half-naked and half-blind young, which were at least a couple of days old.

  59. 16

    When the father of the house himself saw the young ones, he said: "Whatever the truth of this may be, it is certain that we here on this farm have behaved in such a way that we ought to be ashamed before both beast and man."

  60. And with that he lifted the female squirrel and all the young out of the cage and laid them in old grandmother's apron.

  61. "Go out to the cattle pasture with them," he said, "and let them have their freedom back!"

  62. 17

    This was the event that became so much talked about and even got into the newspapers, but which most people did not want to believe, because they could not explain how such a thing could have happened.

  63. 18

    A couple of days later there occurred yet another such strange event.

  64. A flock of wild geese came down one morning onto a field far off in eastern Skåne, not far from the great estate of Vittskövle.

  65. In the flock there were thirteen geese of the ordinary gray color and one white gander, who carried on his back a little fellow dressed in yellow leather breeches, a green waistcoat, and a white peaked cap.

  66. 19

    They were now quite close to the Baltic, and in the field where the geese had come down the soil was mixed with sand, as it tends to be near sea coasts.

  67. It seemed as though there had once been loose drifting sand in that region, which had needed to be bound down, for in several places large planted pine forests could be seen.

  68. 20

    When the wild goose had grazed a while, some children came walking along the edge of the field.

  69. The goose that stood on watch at once threw herself up into the air with loud beating wings, so that the whole flock should hear that there was danger about.

  70. All the wild geese flew up, but the white one stayed calmly on the ground.

  71. When he saw the others fleeing, he lifted his head and called after them: "You needn't fly off for those."

  72. "It's only a couple of children."

  73. 21

    The little fellow who had ridden on his back sat on a tussock at the edge of the woods, picking apart a pine cone to get at the seeds.

  74. The children were so close to him that he dared not run across the field to reach the white one.

  75. He hid himself quickly under a large, dry thistle leaf and at the same time let out a cry of warning.

  76. 22

    But the white one had clearly resolved not to let himself be scared.

  77. He went on standing calmly in the field and did not so much as look to see where the children were headed.

  78. 23

    The children, however, turned off the road, went across the field, and drew near the gander.

  79. When he finally looked up, they were right upon him, and now he grew so bewildered and confused that he forgot he could fly, and hurried away from them running.

  80. The children followed after, chased him down into a ditch, and caught him there.

  81. The biggest of them tucked him under his arm and carried him off.

  82. 24

    When the little fellow lying under the thistle leaf saw this, he sprang up, as if he had meant to take the gander away from the children.

  83. But then he remembered how small and powerless he was, and instead threw himself down on the tussock and hammered furiously on the ground with his fists.

  84. 25

    The gander cried out for help with all his might: "Thumbietot, come and help me!"

  85. "Thumbietot, come and help me!"

  86. But at this the boy began to laugh right in the middle of his anguish.

  87. "Yes, I'm just the one to help someone, I am," he said.

  88. 26

    All the same he got up and followed after the gander.

  89. "I can't help him," he said, "but I want at least to see what they do with him."

  90. 27

    The children had a good head start, but the boy had no trouble keeping them in sight, until he came to a hollow in the ground where a spring brook rushed along.

  91. It was neither broad nor mighty, but even so he had to run a long way along the bank before he found a spot where he could jump across.

  92. 28

    When he came up out of the hollow, the children had vanished.

  93. He could still see their tracks on a narrow path that led into the forest, and he went on following them.

  94. 29

    Soon he came to a crossroads, and here the children must have parted ways, for the tracks went off in two directions.

  95. Now the little fellow looked quite forlorn.

  96. 30

    But just then he caught sight, on a heather tussock, of a little white down feather.

  97. He understood that the gander had dropped it by the roadside to show him which way he had been carried, and so he continued on his way.

  98. He then followed the children through the whole forest.

  99. He did not catch sight of the gander, but wherever he might have taken the wrong path, a little white down feather lay and set him right.

  100. 31

    The little fellow faithfully went on following the down feathers.

  101. They led him out of the forest, across a couple of fields, up onto a road, and at last through a manor avenue.

  102. At the end of the avenue gables and towers of red brick came into view, adorned with light-colored stripes and ornaments.

  103. When the little fellow saw that there was a manor house here, he thought he understood what had become of the gander.

  104. "The children have surely carried the gander to the manor house and sold him there, and by now he's probably already slaughtered," he said to himself.

  105. But he did not seem willing to be content without finding out for certain, and ran forward with redoubled eagerness.

  106. He met no one in the whole avenue, and that was just as well, for such as he tend to be anxious about being seen by people.

  107. 32

    The manor house he came to was a stately, old-fashioned building consisting of four ranges of buildings enclosing a courtyard.

  108. On the east side there was a deep gateway passage leading in to the courtyard.

  109. That far the little fellow ran without hesitation, but when he got there, he stopped.

  110. Farther he did not dare venture, and so he stood there wondering what he should do now.

  111. 33

    The little fellow still stood there with his finger on his nose, thinking, when he heard footsteps behind him, and when he turned around, he saw a whole crowd of people coming up the avenue.

  112. He slipped with the greatest haste behind a water barrel that happened to stand next to the gateway, and hid himself.

  113. 34

    The ones who were coming were some twenty young men from a folk high school, who were out on a walking tour.

  114. They were accompanied by a teacher, and when they had reached the gateway, he asked them to wait there a while, while he went in and asked whether they might be allowed to view the old castle of Vittskövle.

  115. 35

    The newcomers were warm and tired, as though they had made a long march.

  116. One of them was so thirsty that he went up to the water barrel and bent down to drink.

  117. He had a tin canister hanging around his neck, and he evidently found it in his way, for he flung it down on the ground.

  118. At this the lid flew open, so that one could see there were some spring flowers lying inside it.

  119. 36

    The canister fell right in front of the little fellow, and now he must have thought that an excellent chance had presented itself to get into the castle and find out what had become of the gander.

  120. He slipped quickly down into the canister and hid himself, as best he could, under wood anemones and coltsfoot.

  121. 37

    He was scarcely hidden before the young man picked up the canister, hung it on himself, and snapped the lid shut.

  122. 38

    The teacher now turned back and said they had been given leave to come into the castle.

  123. At first he led them no farther than the courtyard.

  124. There he stopped and began to talk to them about the old building.

  125. 39

    He reminded them that the first people who had lived here in this land had had to dwell in rock caves and earth holes, in animal-hide tents and brush huts, and that a long time had passed before they had hit upon the idea of timbering themselves houses out of tree trunks.

  126. And then, how long had they not had to labor and strive before they had come, from the timber cottage with its single room, all the way to raising a castle of a hundred rooms such as Vittskövle!

  127. 40

    It was some three hundred and fifty years ago that the rich and mighty built themselves castles such as this, he said.

  128. It was easy to see that Vittskövle had been raised at a time when war and robbers made things unsafe in Skåne.

  129. All around it was a moat filled with water, and across it there once led a bridge that could be wound up.

  130. Above the gateway there still stands to this day a watchtower, along the sides of the castle ran patrol walks, and in the corners stood solid towers with walls a meter thick.

  131. But even so this castle was not raised in the very wildest of the war years; rather, Jens Brahe, who built it, had also taken pains to make it into a handsome and richly ornamented house.

  132. If they could see the great, solid stone house at Glimmingehus, which had been erected only a generation earlier, they would easily notice that Jens Holgersen Ulfstand, its builder, had asked for nothing but to build big and solid and strong, without giving a thought to making it beautiful and comfortable.

  133. If they were to see, on the other hand, such manors as Marsvinsholm and Snogeholm and Övedskloster, which had come into being one or another century later than Vittskövle, they would find that times had by then grown more peaceful.

  134. The gentlemen who had built those places had not provided them with fortifications, but had troubled themselves only to procure for themselves grand and stately dwellings.

  135. 41

    The teacher talked long and thoroughly, and the little fellow, who lay shut up in the canister, was surely rather impatient.

  136. But he must have lain very still, for the canister's owner did not notice at all that he was carrying him along.

  137. 42

    At last the whole party went into the castle after all, but if the little fellow had hoped he would get some chance to slip out of the canister, he was disappointed, for the pupil kept it on him, and the little fellow had to go along through every room.

  138. 43

    It became a slow tour.

  139. The teacher stopped at every moment to explain and instruct.

  140. 44

    In one room there was an old fireplace, and in front of it the teacher stopped to speak of the various hearths people had used over the course of time.

  141. The first hearth indoors had been a stone slab in the middle of the cottage floor with a smoke hole up in the roof, which let in both rain and wind; the second had been a large, walled-in oven without a chimney, and that had no doubt made the cottage warm, but had also filled it with smoke and fumes.

  142. By the time Vittskövle was built, people had just reached as far as the open hearth, which had a wide chimney for the smoke, but which also let most of the warmth escape up into the air.

  143. 45

    If that little fellow had ever been hot-tempered and impatient, he got a good exercise in patience that day.

  144. It was surely already an hour that he had lain there motionless.

  145. 46

    In the next room the teacher came to, he stopped in front of an old bed with a high canopy and rich curtains.

  146. And at once he began telling about beds and bedsteads of former times.

  147. 47

    The teacher was in no hurry at all.

  148. But then he did not know, either, that there lay a poor little wretch shut up in a canister, only waiting for him to be done.

  149. When he came to a room with gilded-leather wall hangings, he talked about how people, from the very earliest times, had covered their walls; when he came to an old family portrait, he told about the many fashions of dress; and in the banquet halls he described the ways of former times for celebrating weddings and funerals.

  150. 48

    After that the teacher also talked a little about the many capable men and women who had lived in the castle, about the old Brahes and the old Barnekows, about Kristian Barnekow, who had given the king his horse in the very midst of his flight, about Margareta Ascheberg, who had been married to Kjell Barnekow and, as a widow, had governed the estate and the whole district for fifty-three years, about the banker Hagerman, who had been a cottager's son from Vittskövle and had grown so rich that he had bought the entire estate, and about the Stjernsvärds, who had provided the people of Skåne with better plows, so that they could give up the old contraptions for wooden plows, which three pairs of oxen could scarcely budge.

  151. 49

    Through all this the little fellow lay still.

  152. If he had ever, at some time, been naughty and shut the cellar door on his mother or father, he now got to learn how they had felt, for it dragged on for hours before the teacher finished.

  153. 50

    At last the teacher went back out onto the courtyard, and there he spoke of mankind's long labor to procure tools and weapons, clothes and houses, furniture and ornaments.

  154. He said that such an old castle as Vittskövle was a milestone along the way.

  155. There one could see how far people had come three hundred and fifty years ago and judge for oneself whether things had gone forward or backward for them since then.

  156. 51

    But this speech the little fellow was spared having to listen to, for the pupil who was carrying him had grown thirsty again and had slipped into the kitchen to ask for a drink of water.

  157. Once the little fellow was carried into the kitchen, he must have tried to look around for the gander.

  158. He had begun to stir, and in doing so happened to press too hard against the lid, so that it sprang open.

  159. Canister lids do, after all, always spring open, and the pupil thought no more of the matter, but simply pressed it shut again.

  160. But then the cook asked whether he had a snake in the canister.

  161. 52

    "No, I've only got some plants," answered the pupil.

  162. — "There was certainly something moving in there," the cook insisted.

  163. The pupil then flipped up the lid to show her she was mistaken.

  164. "Just look for yourself…

  165. 53

    But he did not get the chance, for now the little fellow no longer dared stay in the canister, but leapt with a bound onto the floor and rushed out.

  166. The serving girls barely had time to see what it was that ran, but they hurried after all the same.

  167. 54

    The teacher was still standing there talking, when he was interrupted by loud shouts.

  168. "Catch him, catch him!" shouted those who came from the kitchen, and all the young men rushed after the little fellow, who darted away faster than a rat.

  169. They tried to head him off at the gate, but it was not so easy to get hold of one who was so small, and he got safely out into the open.

  170. 55

    The little fellow did not dare run down the open avenue, but turned aside in another direction.

  171. He dashed through the garden into the back yard.

  172. The whole time the people chased after him amid shouting and laughter.

  173. The poor little fellow fled as fast as he could manage, but it still seemed as though the people were gaining on him.

  174. 56

    As he rushed past a small laborer's cottage, he heard a goose cackling and saw a white down feather lying on the steps.

  175. There, there he had the gander!

  176. He had been on the wrong trail before.

  177. He no longer gave a thought to the maids and men chasing him, but climbed up the steps into the entryway.

  178. Farther he could not get, for the cottage door was locked.

  179. He heard how the gander was screaming and moaning in there, but he could not get the door open.

  180. The great hunt that was pursuing him drew ever nearer, and inside the room the gander screamed ever more pitifully.

  181. In this direst distress the little fellow at last took his courage in both hands and pounded on the door with all his might.

  182. 57

    A child came and opened it, and the little fellow looked into the room.

  183. In the middle of the floor sat a woman who was holding the gander fast to clip off his wing feathers.

  184. It was her child who had found him, and she did not mean him any harm.

  185. She intended to let him go to her own geese, once she had gotten to clip his wings, so that he could not fly away.

  186. But worse misfortune could scarcely have befallen the gander, and he screamed and moaned with all his might.

  187. 58

    And it was lucky that the woman had not begun the clipping earlier.

  188. Only two feathers had so far fallen to the scissors when the door opened and the little fellow stood on the threshold.

  189. But such a one as he the woman had never seen before.

  190. She could not believe otherwise than that it was Goa-Nisse himself, and she dropped the scissors in her fright, clapped her hands together, and forgot to hold the gander fast.

  191. 59

    As soon as he felt himself free, he sprang toward the door.

  192. He gave himself no time to stop, but in passing seized the little fellow by the collar and took him along.

  193. And on the steps he spread his wings and rose up into the air.

  194. At the same time he made a fine turn of his neck and set the little fellow down on his downy back.

  195. 60

    So off they went, up into the air, and the whole of Vittskövle stood and stared after them.

  196. 61

    IN THE PARK AT ÖVEDSKLOSTER.

  197. 62

    All that day, while the geese played with the fox, the boy lay sleeping in an abandoned squirrel's nest.

  198. When he woke toward evening, he was quite troubled.

  199. "Now I'll soon be sent home, and then it surely can't be avoided that I'll have to show myself to father and mother," he thought.

  200. 63

    But when he sought out the wild geese, who lay bathing in Lake Vomb, not one of them said a word about his having to travel.

  201. "Maybe they think the white one is too tired to fly home with me tonight," thought the boy.

  202. 64

    The next morning the geese were awake at first light, long before sunrise.

  203. Now the boy felt sure it would mean the journey home, but strangely enough both he and the white gander got to go along with the wild ones on their morning outing.

  204. The boy could not for the life of him understand what the reason for the delay was, but then he reasoned it out that the wild geese did not want to send the gander off on so long a journey before he had had a chance to eat his fill.

  205. In any case he was simply glad of every moment that passed before he had to face his parents.

  206. 65

    The wild geese flew on over the manor of Övedskloster, which lay in a lovely park east of the lake and looked very stately with its great mansion, its handsome, paved courtyard surrounded by low walls and pavilions, and its fine, old-fashioned garden with clipped hedges, covered leaf-walks, ponds, water features, splendid trees, and neatly trimmed lawns, where the borders stood bright with spring flowers.

  207. 66

    When the wild geese flew over the manor in the early morning hour, not a soul was yet stirring.

  208. Once they had made quite sure of this, they lowered themselves down toward the doghouse and called: "What sort of little hut is this?"

  209. "What sort of little hut is this?"

  210. 67

    At once the chained dog came out of his kennel, angry and furious, and barked up into the air.

  211. 68

    "Do you call this a hut, you tramps?"

  212. "Don't you see that it's a tall castle of stone?"

  213. "Don't you see what fine walls it has, don't you see how many windows and how great gates and how splendid a terrace it has, woof, woof, woof?"

  214. "Do you call this a hut, you?"

  215. "Don't you see the courtyard, don't you see the garden, don't you see the greenhouses, don't you see the marble statues?"

  216. "Do you call this a hut, you?"

  217. "Do huts commonly have a park where there are both beech woods and hazel thickets and leafy meadows and oak groves and spruce copses and a deer park full of roe deer, woof, woof, woof?"

  218. "Do you call this a hut, you?"

  219. "Have you seen huts that have so many outbuildings around them that it looks like a whole village?"

  220. "You surely know plenty of huts that have their own church and their own parsonage, and that rule over manors and freehold farms and tenant farms and cottars' cabins, woof, woof, woof?"

  221. "Do you call this a hut, you?"

  222. "To this hut belongs the largest estate in Skåne, you beggars."

  223. "You can't see a scrap of ground, up there where you hang in the sky, that doesn't answer to this hut, woof, woof, woof."

  224. 69

    All this the dog managed to bark out in a single breath, and the geese flew back and forth over the yard and listened to him until he had to pause.

  225. But then they shouted: "Why are you so angry?"

  226. "We didn't ask about the castle, we only asked about your doghouse."

  227. 70

    When the boy heard this joke, he laughed at first, but then a thought forced itself on him that at once made him grave.

  228. "Just think how many such jests you'd get to hear, if you were allowed to go with the wild geese through the whole country all the way up to Lapland!" he said to himself.

  229. "Since things are going so badly for you now, such a journey would surely be the best thing you could find."

  230. 71

    The wild geese flew off to one of the broad fields east of the manor to graze on grass roots and kept at this for hours.

  231. Meanwhile the boy went into the great park bordering the field, sought out a hazel grove, and began peering up into the bushes to see whether any nut might not still be hanging on from last autumn.

  232. But again and again the thought of the journey came back to him as he walked in the park.

  233. He pictured to himself how good he would have it if he went along with the wild geese.

  234. Starving and freezing, that he thought he would have to do often enough, but in return he would be spared both working and studying.

  235. 72

    While he walked there, the old gray sentinel-goose came up to him and asked whether he had found anything to eat.

  236. No, he had not, he said, and then she tried to help him.

  237. A few nuts she could not find either, but she discovered a couple of rose hips hanging on a briar bush.

  238. The boy ate them up with a good appetite, but he wondered a good deal what his mother would have said, had she known that he now lived on raw fish and old winter-shriveled rose hips.

  239. 73

    When the wild geese had finally eaten their fill, they drew back down toward the lake again, and there they amused themselves playing until well on toward midday.

  240. The wild geese challenged the white gander to a contest in every possible sport.

  241. They raced swimming, raced running, and raced flying with him.

  242. The big tame one did his very best, but he was always beaten by the swift wild geese.

  243. The boy sat on the gander's back the whole time, cheering him on, and had just as much fun as the others.

  244. There was such shrieking and laughing and cackling that it was a wonder the manor folk did not hear them.

  245. 74

    When the wild geese were tired of playing, they went out onto the ice and rested a couple of hours.

  246. The afternoon they spent very much as they had the morning.

  247. First a couple of hours' grazing, then bathing and play in the water by the edge of the ice until sunset, when they at once settled down to sleep.

  248. 75

    "This would be just the life to suit me," thought the boy, as he crept in under the gander's wing.

  249. "But tomorrow I'll probably be sent home."

  250. 76

    Before he fell asleep, he lay thinking that if he were allowed to go along with the wild geese, he would be spared all the scolding for being lazy.

  251. Then he could idle away his days, and his only worry would be to find himself something to eat.

  252. But he needed so little nowadays, so that would surely be no trouble.

  253. 77

    And so he pictured to himself all he would get to see, and how many adventures he would get to take part in.

  254. Yes, it would be a different thing from the drudgery and toil back home.

  255. "If only I were allowed to go along with the wild geese on their journey, I wouldn't grieve over having been turned into what I am," thought the boy.

  256. 78

    He was afraid of nothing else except being sent home, but not even on Wednesday did the geese say anything about his having to travel.

  257. That day passed much the same as Tuesday, and the boy grew more and more content with the wild life.

  258. He felt he had the lonely park at Övedskloster, which was as big as a forest, entirely to himself, and he did not long to go back to the cramped cottage and the little fields at home.

  259. 79

    On Wednesday he believed that the wild geese meant to keep him with them, but on Thursday he lost that hope again.

  260. 80

    Thursday began the same way as the other days.

  261. The geese grazed on the broad fields, and the boy searched for food inside the park.

  262. After a while Akka came up to him and asked whether he had found anything to eat.

  263. No, he had not, and then she sought out for him a dry caraway plant that still had all its little seeds intact.

  264. 81

    When the boy had eaten, Akka said she thought he ran about the park much too recklessly.

  265. She wondered whether he knew how many enemies he had to watch out for, small as he was.

  266. No, he did not know at all, and then Akka began listing them for him.

  267. 82

    When he walked in the park, she said, he ought to watch out for the fox and the marten; when he came down to the lakeshore, he ought to keep the otters in mind; if he sat on the stone wall, he should not forget the weasel, who could creep through the smallest holes, and if he wanted to lie down to sleep in a heap of leaves, he should first check whether the adder was not sleeping its winter sleep in that same heap.

  268. As soon as he came out into the open field, he ought to keep an eye on hawk and buzzard, on eagle and falcon, hovering up in the sky.

  269. In the hazel thickets he might be caught by the sparrowhawk; magpies and crows were everywhere, and he should not trust them too far; and as soon as dusk fell, he should keep his ears pricked to listen for the great owls, which flew along on such soundless wingbeats that they could come right up on him before he noticed them.

  270. 83

    When the boy heard that there were so many out to get his life, he understood it was quite impossible for him to keep it.

  271. He was not especially afraid of dying, but he did not care for being eaten up, and so he asked Akka what he could do to protect himself against the beasts of prey.

  272. 84

    Akka answered at once that the boy ought to try to get on good terms with the small-animal folk of forest and field, with the squirrel folk and the hare folk, with finches and titmice and woodpeckers and larks.

  273. If he made himself their friend, they could warn him of dangers, provide him with hiding places, and, in a real emergency, band together and defend him.

  274. 85

    But when the boy, later in the day, wanted to follow this advice and turned to Sirle the squirrel to ask for his assistance, it turned out that he did not want to help him.

  275. "You needn't expect anything good from me or from the other small animals," said Sirle.

  276. "Do you think we don't know that you're Nils the goose boy, who last year tore down swallows' nests, crushed starlings' eggs, threw baby crows into the marl pit, caught thrushes in snares, and put squirrels in cages?"

  277. "You'll just have to help yourself as best you can, and you may be glad we don't band together against you and chase you back to your own kind."

  278. 86

    This was just the sort of answer the boy would never have let go unpunished in the old days, back when he was Nils the goose boy, but now he only grew afraid that the wild geese too might have found out how wicked he could be.

  279. He had been so anxious not to lose his place with the wild geese that he had not dared venture on the least piece of mischief since he had come into their company.

  280. It was true he had not been able to do much harm, small as he was, but he could well have destroyed many a bird's nest and broken many an egg, had he had a mind to.

  281. As it was he had only been well-behaved; he had not plucked a single feather from a goose's wing, had not given anyone a rude answer, and every morning, when he had greeted Akka, he had taken off his cap and bowed.

  282. 87

    All through Thursday he went about thinking it was surely for the sake of his wickedness that the wild geese would not take him with them up to Lapland.

  283. And when in the evening he heard that Sirle the squirrel's wife had been carried off, and that his children were starving to death, he resolved to help them, and it has already been told how well this succeeded for him.

  284. 88

    When the boy came into the park on Friday, he heard the chaffinches singing in every thicket of how Sirle the squirrel's wife had been carried off from her tender young by cruel robbers, and how Nils the goose boy had ventured in among the humans and carried the little squirrel children to her.

  285. 89

    "Who is now so celebrated in the park at Övedskloster," sang the chaffinches, "as Thumbietot, he whom everyone feared back when he was Nils the goose boy?"

  286. "Sirle the squirrel shall give him nuts, the poor hares shall play with him, the roe deer shall take him on their backs and flee with him when Smirre the fox draws near, the titmice shall warn him of the sparrowhawk, and finches and larks shall sing of his heroic deed."

  287. 90

    The boy was quite certain that both Akka and the wild geese heard all this, but still the whole of Friday passed without their saying anything about his being allowed to stay with them.

  288. 91

    Right up to Saturday the geese got to graze on the fields around Öved, undisturbed by Smirre the fox.

  289. But when they came out onto the fields on Saturday morning, he lay in ambush for them and pursued them from one field to the next, so that they got no peace to feed.

  290. When Akka understood that he did not mean to leave them in peace, she quickly made up her mind, rose into the air, and flew with the flock several miles away over the plains of Färs district and the juniper hillocks of Linderödsåsen.

  291. They did not come down until they reached the area around Vittskövle.

  292. 92

    But here at Vittskövle the gander was stolen, as has already been told.

  293. If the boy had not exerted all his strength to help him, he would never have found his way back again.

  294. 93

    When the boy came back with the gander to Lake Vomb on Saturday evening, he felt he had done a good day's work, and wondered a great deal what Akka and the wild geese would say.

  295. And the wild geese were by no means sparing with praise, but they did not say the one word he longed to hear.

  296. 94

    So it was Sunday again.

  297. A whole week had passed since the boy had been bewitched, and he was still just as small.

  298. 95

    But it did not look as though he was troubling himself much on that score.

  299. On Sunday afternoon he sat curled up in a large, bushy willow shrub down by the lakeshore, blowing on a reed pipe.

  300. All around him sat as many titmice and chaffinches and starlings as the shrub could hold, twittering tunes that he tried to learn to play.

  301. But the boy was not very much at home in the art.

  302. He blew so out of tune that the feathers stood up on all the little music teachers, and they shrieked and flapped about in despair.

  303. The boy laughed so heartily at their eagerness that he dropped the pipe.

  304. 96

    He began again, and it went just as badly, so that all the little birds cried out in dismay: "Today you're playing worse than usual, Thumbietot."

  305. "You can't hold a clean note."

  306. "Where are your thoughts, Thumbietot?"

  307. 97

    "They're elsewhere," said the boy, and that was true.

  308. He sat wondering how long he would get to stay with the wild geese, or whether he might be sent home this very day.

  309. 98

    Suddenly the boy threw the pipe from him and jumped down out of the shrub.

  310. He had seen Akka and all the geese coming toward him in a long row.

  311. They walked so unusually slowly and solemnly that the boy at once felt he understood he was about to learn what they intended to do with him.

  312. 99

    When they finally stopped, Akka said: "You may well have reason to wonder at me, Thumbietot, for not having thanked you for saving me from Smirre the fox."

  313. "But I am one who would rather give thanks in deed than in word."

  314. "And now, Thumbietot, I believe I have succeeded in doing you a great service."

  315. "I have sent word to that tomte who bewitched you."

  316. "At first he would not hear of curing you, but I have sent message after message to him and told him how well you have behaved among us."

  317. "He now sends word that as soon as you turn back home, you shall become a human being."

  318. 100

    But imagine, just as glad as the boy had been when the wild goose began speaking, just as sad was he when she finished!

  319. He said not a word, but only turned away and wept.

  320. 101

    "Whatever in the world is this?" said Akka.

  321. "It looks as though you had expected more from me than I have now offered you."

  322. 102

    But the boy thought of carefree days and merry jests, of adventures and freedom and journeys high up over the earth, which he would have to give up, and he fairly wailed with grief.

  323. "I don't care about becoming human," he said.

  324. "I want to go with you to Lapland."

  325. — "I'll tell you something," said Akka.

  326. "That tomte is quick to take offense, and I'm afraid that if you don't accept his offer now, it will be hard for you to win him over another time."

  327. 103

    It was a strange thing about that boy, that in all his life he had never been fond of anyone.

  328. He had not been fond of father and mother, not of the schoolteacher, not of his schoolmates, not of the boys on the neighboring farms.

  329. Everything they had wanted him to do, whether play or work, he had only found tiresome.

  330. That was why there was now no one he missed or longed for.

  331. 104

    The only ones he had, after a fashion, been able to get along with had been Åsa the goose girl and little Mats, a couple of children who had herded geese in the fields just as he himself had done.

  332. But not even them had he truly cared for.

  333. No, far from it.

  334. 105

    "I don't want to become human," wailed the boy.

  335. "I want to go with you to Lapland.

  336. That's why I've been good this whole week."

  337. — "I won't refuse to let you come along with us, as far as you like," said Akka, "but think first now whether you wouldn't rather turn back home!

  338. It may well be that a day will come when you regret this."

  339. 106

    "No," said the boy, "there's nothing to regret.

  340. I've never had it so good as here with you."

  341. 107

    "Well, then it shall be as you wish," said Akka.

  342. 108

    "Thank you!" said the boy, and felt so happy that he had to weep with joy, just as he had before wept with sorrow.

The particulars

The text
Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige, Selma Lagerlöf. The Wonderful Adventures of Nils.
Translation
Public-domain Swedish (Lagerlöf, d. 1940; published 1906–07). English translation © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC.
Words
Every word of the text, by letter.
Data
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Two whoopie pies and a pine. An inside joke.